January 28, 2005

 

 

Germany confirms 65 BSE cases in 2004

 

Germany has confirmed 65 cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease in 2004, compared to 54 in 2003 and 106 in 2002, according to an attache report posted Wednesday on USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service Web site.

 

Until Jan. 19, 2005, one additional case was confirmed, taking the number of confirmed BSE cases since the first detection of BSE in Germany in November 2000 to a total of 358. All German cattle above 24 months at slaughter have to be tested for BSE, compared to 30 months in the EU.

 

The ongoing discussion about testing age will likely result in a change to 30 months in the second half of 2005.

 

In 2004, 65 cases of BSE were confirmed, compared to 54 in 2003. The German Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food, and Agriculture views this increase in BSE cases as being still within the expected range, as all confirmed animals were older than four years (48 month) and born before the introduction of the meat and bonemeal (MBM) ban in animal feed.

 

As of Dec. 31, 2004, the total number of confirmed BSE cases in Germany amounted to 357 cases. Out of these, 7 cases were detected in 2000, 125 cases in 2001, and 106 cases in 2002, 54 cases in 2003, and 65 in 2004. From Jan. 1 through 19, 2005, one additional case was confirmed.

 

BSE tests

 

In 2004, a total of 2,486,127 BSE tests were conducted in Germany, of which 65 BSE cases were confirmed. Out of these, 35 cases were discovered through routine testing at slaughter. All other cases were either detected through mandatory testing of "risk animals."

 

Risk animals, include perished animals, animals that died on transport, downers (i.e. nonambulatory animals), animals that show any kind of disease symptoms, animals that show clinical BSE symptoms, or were part of destroyed herds or cohorts of a previously confirmed BSE case (birth cohort = animals born on the same farm within 12 month before or after the birth, feeding cohort = animals that were raised together with animal with confirmed BSE within the first 12 months of life of the latter, all offspring).

 

Since Jan. 25, 2001, BSE tests at slaughter became mandatory in Germany for all cattle above the age of 24 months. However, some retail chains require the testing of all cattle, irrespective of age.

 

Testing below the age of 24 month is purely for marketing reasons and does not supply any additional value in terms of BSE measures, as tests on younger animals are not very reliable. In 2001 - 2003, between 65 and 70 percent of all cattle and calves slaughtered in Germany were tested for BSE.

 

The EU requires BSE testing for all risk animals above 24 months, while routine testing of healthy appearing animals is only required for cattle above 30 months. There is an ongoing discussion in Germany to move the testing age from 24 to 30 months.

 

The proponents argue that so far only one BSE case was confirmed in animals younger than 30 months at slaughter. This case was detected in January of 2001, and occurred in an animal that was born before the ban on meat- and bonemeal (MBM) in animal feed went into effect in December 2000.

 

Theoretically from June 2003 onwards all animals slaughtered at 30 months or younger should not have had contact with feed containing MBM. The German Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food, and Agriculture (BMVEL) in general favors a change in the obligatory testing age, however, BMVEL insists on an extra security time margin.

 

Based on the accumulated surveillance data, the German federal agency for risk assessment (Bundesinstitut fuer Risikobewertung, BfR) is expected to carry out a BSE risk assessment in April 2005. We therefore expect the change will go into effect in the second half

of 2005.

 

Production

 

In CY 2003, Germany produced 1.224 million MT of beef; 180,000 MT of beef were imported, with 66,000 MT from outside the EU-25 (mainly Argentina and Brazil) and 13,800 from new EU-member states (Poland and Hungary). Exports amounted to 4,423,000 MT of which 83,000 MT were sent to destinations outside the EU-25 (mostly Russia) and 2,800 MT to Hungary, Malta and the Czech Republic.

 

Consumption

 

Due to consumer concerns in relation to BSE, per capita consumption of beef had dropped from 10.4 kg in 1999 to 6.8 kg in 20011. In 2003 it rebounded to 8.8 kg. A further increase is expected for 2004. However, due to the health related trend away from meat consumption, it is expected that the pre-BSE consumption levels will not be reached again.